An off-season holdout that bleeds into NFL training camp and the preseason is really kind of annoying to watch play out. Your favorite player on your squad decided not to show up to work this month (playing football, a job most men would kill for) because he’s only making $5 million this season and not $7.2 million or whatever. Meanwhile, your stuck at your crappy job that can barely keep the lights on and you come home only to see your favorite player rocking the biggest earrings you’ve ever seen in life on Sportscenter, while he’s complaining about a contract that HE SIGNED just two years ago. Then when he finally gets his deal, he says what every athlete says when they sign a contract for $1.2 gajillion…
“It wasn’t about the money.”
As petulant as this all may seem, most players who holdout during training camp are actually doing the right thing. Sure they do so at the risk of sabotaging team chemistry, but if you were them, you would do it too.
This is precisely why I hope Maurice Jones-Drew gets traded out of Jacksonville and gets his new deal elsewhere.
Again, the team and the fans are the main people who suffer in this scenario. A holdout serves as a huge distraction to the team, which causes teammates to focus on other matters besides football. Media members are constantly asking about the current status of player X and the more other players and coaches have to answer these questions, the less focused they are on becoming a better football team. Since they’re missing a key figure of the team, holdouts also creates game-planning issues for coaches. Furthermore, the players who come into camp late due to a contract dispute typically get off to a slow start during the season and struggle to regain that form throughout the year that earned them that new deal in the first place (see Chris Johnson’s 2011 season).
Maurice Jones-Drew, however, is worth every bit of money he’s asking for to the Jacksonville Jaguars. He is the face of a garbage team that has been rumored to be headed out of town on the first thing smokin’ to L.A. for years. He’s by far the best player on a team that is coming off a 5-11 season that saw their first round pick barely complete 50% of his passes last year. The Jags were so bad last season, they were putting tarps on the upper deck to cover the empty seats and ESPN wanted no part of their Monday Night Football games. If that wasn’t bad enough, their 2012 first round pick should be catching a cab to and from practice from now on.
MJD was pretty much the only good thing this team had going for themselves at the moment. That is, until new owner Shad Khan said of Jones-Drew’s holdout, “Train’s leaving the station. Run, get on it.” This obviously did not sit well with MJD or his agent Adisa Bakari, who are now claiming last season’s leading rusher in the NFL is open to a trade.
“Maurice wants to play for an organization that wants him and for an owner who respects him and values what he brings to a team — on the field, in the locker room and in the community,” Bakari said.
You can see now why athletes are always quick to say, “It’s not about the money.” In their eyes, it’s really about appreciation and respect. MJD feels a lot like Rod Tidwell right now…and Rod Tidwell does not dance.
The Jags feel they have already bent over backwards for MoJo by giving him a big contract in 2009, which was before he took over the full-time job as their starting tailback. They don’t want to set the precedent that players who holdout will ultimately get rewarded. They also don’t want to extend the 27-year-old well into his 30s, as running backs tend to decline quickly around that age, (which is ultimately why MJD is making the right call). And if the Jags feel that strongly about all these hangups, then why not trade the guy? It’s better than having an unhappy superstar hanging around the team.
This is more than likely MoJo’s last big payday in the NFL. Based on the current market, Jones-Drew has outplayed his current deal (5 years, $31M with $17.5M guaranteed, which in 2009 made him the third highest paid player at his position) as evidenced by him making less money in 2012 than Adrian Peterson, Arian Foster, LeSean McCoy, Chris Johnson, Deangelo Williams, Steven Jackson and Marshawn Lynch.
Sidebar: Anytime HipHopSportsReport mentions Marshawn Lynch, we will link this video. This is our policy and we stand by it.
The bottom line is this: professional athletes may seem like greedy jerks, but this is because they have a very short shelf life. The shelf life for football players is shorter than that of the average athlete, and running backs have an even shorter shelf life than that. The very best running backs are lucky to get two big paydays in their career. The earning potential for elite level rushers is high, but the window available to them to maximize that potential is usually no more than five to seven years.
This isn’t like basketball where all contracts are guaranteed, you can enter the league at 19 and if you’re good, play til you’re 38, while cashing in on 2-3 decent sized contracts along the way. In the NFL, you enter the league at 21 or 22, with many players already bringing injury histories with them (ahem! Trent Richardson), you get crushed by 300+ lb men on nearly every play and the contracts aren’t even guaranteed! You can get cut tomorrow and the team owes you nothing! This is why players haggle over guaranteed money all the time. This is also why other players typically don’t speak out publicly against teammates who holdout, and when they do, they’re criticized for it.
You want to know how dangerous football is? Just look at the body armor players have to wear just to go to work every Sunday. Watch a NFL game and count the number of guys that get carried (or carted) off the field left and right like it’s a war zone. It’s a miracle players don’t leave the field in body bags.
You want to know how hazardous football is for your health? Why don’t you ask Curt Mash or LeRoy Butler and Tony Mandarich.
MJD has been superhuman for the Jags. You might not like what he’s doing, but if you were him, you’d holdout too.
Most companies that require their employees to work under these conditions go out of their way to compensate them. Not the NFL. If you get hurt today, you can get cut tonight. Ex-players had to fight tooth & nail just to get a bump in pension in the last collective bargaining agreement and the widows of ex-players just recently got their piece of the pie. As Anthony, good friend of HHSR once said, in what other profession would these practices be allowed? If this were any other industry, the government would have interceded long ago. A holdout is a player’s only recourse.
Why do fans and many media members deem it acceptable for teams to cut players who are injured or who under-perform before their contract is up, but players are often vilified when they want to renegotiate? MJD is doing what every team in the NFL does every week.
Maurice Jones-Drew is averaging well over 300 carries per season the last three years. Based on his production and what he’s meant to the Jaguars, he knows what he is worth (and dude definitely could use the extra dough right now seeing as how the fines and penalties he’s accrued for missing 28 days off camp, plus mandatory team workouts, has exceed 800 stacks). While the Jags’ hesitation to extend MJD is understandable, they should understand his position at this point.
Considering all he’s given them over the last several years and the current direction of the franchise, Jones-Drew is wise to start thinking of an exit strategy from Jacksonville while he’s still capable of producing. Any team willing to take a chance on him would be wise. He’s been extremely durable in his career and still appears to have something left in the tank. If he went to a team that is on the cusp of contention that has more of a balanced offensive attack so as not to run him into the ground like Jack Del Rio tried to do, MJD could thrive for years into the future (Dallas comes to mind, especially since their owner isn’t afraid to break the bank).
Gregg Rosenthal of NFL.com doesn’t believe a trade is in the works because the Jaguars have all the leverage. But based on Khan’s comments, the relationship between the team and their star has been severely damaged. MJD’s time in Jacksonville may be up, and not a moment too soon.
Here’s to hoping Jones-Drew carries the day and carries the rock once again in the near future with a new deal.
After all, Rod Tidwell got his.